Leigh Leopards v Wakefield Trinity: boss vows fight to the finish as Super League survival hangs in balance

Trinity are four points behind second-bottom Castleford Tigers with two Betfred Super League rounds remaining.

That means they will be relegated if they fail to win at Leigh Leopards on Friday or Tigers avoid defeat away to Wigan Warriors at the same time.

Wakefield’s defeat by Catalans Dragons last week, coupled with Castleford’s win over Hull FC, left them teetering on the brink, but Applegarth insists he and his players haven’t given up hope.

“We are fighting for our lives, Leigh are fighting for the top-four, so it is going to come down to who wants it more,” he said of this week’s clash.

“We have to make sure we are the most desperate team. Everyone has written us off all year, but while there’s mathematically a chance we could stay up, we’ll believe we can do it.

“We’ve definitely not given up hope. We know we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb and it’s out of our hands if Cas get another result, but our challenge is simple - we have got to win our next two games to even give ourselves a chance.

“We will be doing everything we can on Friday night to make sure we get that result we are all craving.”

After losing their opening 14 league games, Trinity won four of their next six to briefly climb off the foot of the table.

Five successive defeats since then - including a home loss to Castleford - have left Applegarth’s side facing relegation, but he insisted: “It is not like the performances in the last two weeks have been a million miles off.

“We played two of the top teams in the league, only just losing to St Helens and an 18-10 scoreline against Catalans.

“The effort is there and the application, it boils down to skill execution and composure in key moments in games.

“We have got to take our opportunities when they come, then defend like our lives depend on it for when they get their opportunities.”

Even a win wouldn’t save Trinity if Castleford pull off a shock victory in their penultimate game, but Applegarth won’t be following score updates from Wigan.

“Once we’ve finished I’ll have a look,” he said. “But it’s pointless, you have just got to focus on what you can control.

“We know we need them to slip up, but we also need to win both games so it’ll be full steam ahead trying to get a result against a very good Leigh team.”

Trinity will be without three forwards from last week’s team. Renouf Atoni will serve a one-match ban, Sam Eseh is ruled out with an ankle injury and David Fifita has retired and returned to Australia.

Tom Lineham, Jai Whitbread, Josh Bowden, Harry Bowes, Dane Windrow, Romain Franco and Hugo Salabio are vying for a call into the 17.

Leigh Leopards: from Briscoe, Chamberlain, Charnley, Mellor, Lam, Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, Wardle, Hughes, Asiata, Nakubuwai, Reynolds, Holmes, O’Brien, Davis, Nisbet, O’Donnell, Seumanufagai, Halton, Gildart.

Wakefield Trinity: from Jowitt, Lineham, Lino, Battye, Hood, Whitbread, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Pitts, Kay, Bowden, Kershaw, Proctor, Bowes, Windrow, Senior, Gale, Croft, Franco, Salabio, Griffin.

Referee: Tom Grant (Leeds). Kick-off: Friday, 8pm.